Chapter 7: Watch the Skies

"You all packed up over there, Parthalus?" asked a ready Cielot as he finished tightening his gear around a spine on the fire dragon Ignus' armored neck. Looking over after not getting an answer, he could see his friend give an exhausted thumbs-up as he finished tying his equipment to the wrist of the bony-masked Xenos. The day, though still rather young, was beginning to wane from early-to mid-noon, and Cielot didn't want to be around in the open at dusk, regardless of his teams' monstrous companions.

Firia had finished double-knotting her gear to the arm of Fulgoris, keeping only her map and writing tools while Rasidios and Orzaeus kept a pair of the hard-light rifles that turned the interior of their vessel into a butcher's shop hours ago. Cielot looked above and noticed the series of grunts, growls, and other noises as the towering brothers communicated with each other, about what he may never know. What he did know was that hell or high water, Atlantis will be safe, even if it's been prophesied otherwise. As he began to drift off into thought about it, Firia playfully nudged him, bringing him back to the ship as she quipped "We're ready to go when you are, daydreamer."

Caught off guard, the scientist stumbled, "Ah, right. So, uh, Marek and Kurma, we'd like to thank you for warning us of your prophecy. Maybe, just maybe, we can prepare our nation for this Gyaos beast and buy Atlantis another millennium. We may not be as strong as these titanic protectors, but we Atlanteans, no matter the odds, have always been a resilient and hardy people. "

As Marek and Kurma readied their moth to leave, they turned to each other's depression-etched faces, and, with an air as foreboding as their body language, remarked to the travelers "We hope so." With these parting words, the fuzzy wings of their steed flapped and with one surprisingly strong push, they zoomed into the distance.

"Yeah, that's not a grim mood killer at all. Well, you guys ready?" quipped Parthalus. With nods of agreement, Cielot added "Then let's crack on, folks. It doesn't matter who rides which one the Elemental Dragon Spirits, just get on and let's go home."
One by one, the miniscule Atlanteans climbed aboard their gargantuan escorts; Cielot and Firia settled themselves in between the hot spikes of Ignus' mohawk, Orzaeus and Parthalus took to the shoulders of Xenos, and Rasidios saddled himself atop of the neck armor of Fulgoris .

Cielot angled his head down towards the ear hole of Ignus and queried, "If you can truly understand what I'm saying, nod twice." It was really only skepticism that drove him to ask. Because there was simply no way they understood human language, let alone the difference between his and the now devoured previous fellowship. To his surprise, the creature's head bounced up and down twice; despite the felt carefulness in the movement, the nods sent him and Firia feet in the air. A quick pinch and he knew this wasn't a dream; he just talked to a dragon...and it responded!

Firia jumped in, "Okay then, Ignus, if I can tell you the way to go, could you relay it back to your brothers?" He gave another nod...perfect.

"Well then, let's not waste anymore daylight! Full speed going South-by-Southwest!" shouted Cielot , and with a jump and flap of titanic wings, the island became a blur in the distance as the guardian dragons sped off towards Atlantis with their tiny-but-precious cargo.

Somewhere further east of the island, on what will one day become Sicily, the hillside was still as could be. But one sound broke the silence; a high-pitched, gargled shriek...a noise synonymous of death to the natives. The once silent hills had suddenly sprung to life as multiple brown forms lifted their foul, flat, and toothy faces to the skies and echoed the same cry, drowning the land in fright. They sniffed the air as a snake would, practically tasting it as an intriguing yet familiar scent brought them out of slumber. As the shrieks grew louder, the few remaining villagers within miles of the noise took refuge, regardless of how futile the idea may be, or ran as far as they could to find a cave or any sort of haven.

Amidst the swarm of these winged creatures one voice rang true in their number, a message understood in any language to any species...and the largest of these winged terrors shrieked it the loudest...

"The winds of change are upon us, brothers; I can sense their beck and call. Our enemies are weak and soon this world shall be ours. And now..." it preached as the chorusing beasts spread their wings and took to the skies in a haunting unison.

"Now, we feast."

"Up ahead there should be a forked, rocky pillar, and from there we should be about a third of the way there...unless you three want to kick it into overdrive again," chirped the female atop of Ignus' head. When he and his brothers heard "full speed," they didn't realize that the humans couldn't handle the force from such speeds; to him and his siblings, it seemed like everything was just slightly sped up, but for the Atlanteans, it was "like being thrown in a centrifuge of blurred colors"...whatever a centrifuge was. But regardless, they needed to get to Atlantis because they have an inherent duty to guard this planet of any threat; natural or not, earthly or not, nothing was going to harm this world on their watch.

Fulgoris and Xenos flanked their fiery brother, listening to their human comrades as they surveyed the area. Ignus called out that there should be a notable pillar of rock not far ahead. Xenos knew where he was talking about; he had scouted the area once before for a place to rest, and recalled a chain of islands not far from it. Noting this to Fulgoris and Ignus, he ducked his head down to grab a quick snack and caught a giant squid locked in combat with a large shark. Fulgoris merely chuckled; Xenos was always the glutton of the three, eating everything he could get even after a large meal. It wasn't until an air of worry echoed between the trio and their passengers that he snapped back to attention. The one named Orzaeus reeked of worry.

"Um, guys? Does anyone else notice that the skies just got really dark really fast?" He paused as he looked towards the setting sun, all color draining from his face in a split second, "By the spirits...it can't be..." the hunter then shouted in nothing but pure, instinctive fear, "THE SHADOW!"

*Cue "Tikal" by E.S. Posthumus*

Everyone else looked towards the East as a wall of black forms blotted across the sun. A piercing veil of wails echoed across the splashing waters, ringing in the ears of the dragons but even more so in those of the Atlanteans; it didn't just irritate them, it was physically hurting them! Xenos could hear the screams of agony from the humans, never taking his eyes off the quickly-approaching flock of arrow-headed threats.

"Fulgoris, Ignus, I hope you're ready for a fight! I count 30, maybe 45 of these creatures inbound on our position. The second we reach that island chain, drop the Atlanteans off at a safe spot and let us tear these abominations apart!" Xenos barked.

His brothers nodded in agreement, keeping their eyes open for the islands. "Alright Xenos, I can spot it up ahead. Fulgoris, give us some covering fire until we get there. These people better hang on tight; they're in for a hell of a ride!" called back Ignus, with Cielot and Firia hanging on tightly to the rope around one of his horns.

With a couple of flaps from their mighty wings, the triplets zoomed faster to the patch of land. Fulgoris shifted slightly to ready for combat, feeling the one named Rasidios arching himself to do the same; in all of the years he and his brothers had been around, he admired the fearlessness that humans were capable of sometimes. Their howling pursuers had closed the distance, their toothy maws drooling for a meal; if they wanted to something to snack on, he's got just the treat!

"Alright sparky, let's light these bastards up!" Rasidios bellowed, his rifle thumping with the discharge of hard-light blasts. Fulgoris roared in agreement, his horn crackling in electricity as he unleashed a blast of lightning from his jaws and nailed the closest one in its open mouth. The scaly bird-beast had been blown back, its head exploding as the bolt blew a smoking hole through its skull. But these "Shadows" were far from defenseless; three of them screeched their unholy cry, their mouths now glowing until beams of light sliced through the air and etched into Fulgoris' hide, leaving bloody gashes where they were traced but his armored back was barely scratched. The great dragon cried out as he and his brothers finally landed, the humans leaping off and dashing for cover as the triplets made their way into battle.

Ignus was the first to engage, his arm and claws glowing a fiery red as he grabbed one of the Shadows by the throat as it charged its cutting weapon, smoke rising from the wounds as thermal energy stormed throughout its body. As the Shadow was about to fire this Sonic Cutter, Ignus aimed it at another of the creatures next to him, decapitating it before the one in his clutches burst into flame and its corpse was thrown aside. Another of the snarling beasts had attacked him from behind, landing a kick to the back of his skull that stunned him quick enough for some of its comrades to attempt to tackle him. They paid for this attempt, however; his body engulfed itself in a ball of flaming energy that soon exploded into homing balls of explosive power, killing four in bloody messes and chasing the others into the crossfire of his brothers.

"You've got four incoming at your left flank, Fulgoris! Get ready to swing...NOW!" bellowed the fiery Overseer.
Fulgoris whipped his tail to the side, nailing one fleeing creature into another as the Meteor Storm caught up to them and shot them out of the sky in chunks. Looking back to his brother, Fulgoris gave his brother a nod of approval.

"Good call, brother! Watch out, you've got two right behind-" Fulgoris was cut off as his chest quickly felt a piercing pain attempting to drive him down; two Shadows had caught him off guard, plunging their talons into his flesh as they screamed of blood lust. With one of his free arms he swatted the beasts away, his elbow spike disemboweling one in the process, and with the other he channeled a ball of lightning that he quickly hurled at the other. The projectile nailed his attacker square in the face, its body quivering in searing pain as lightning danced across its body and sprung to its neighbor and leapfrogged to two others. With a simple motion of slamming his fist shut, the Shadows burst and showered the land and sea below in bloody chunks. Swinging with his elbow spines, he failed to notice one of the ravenous creatures firing down upon him, but luckily a shield of the energy around him caught the blast but quickly faded...

"Good to see you're starting to get the hang of that shielding power of yours, Xenos. Now if you excuse me, I have a bird-thing to fry..." praised Fulgoris before uttering under his breath, "Showoff."

Xenos raced across the sky, knowing that he may not be so lucky with this shielding power again, and plunged his spiked knee straight through the beast's skull before kicking the corpse loose. A devastating uppercut to one beast and a tearing of the throat to another later, he could hear a cacophony of hungry caws and angered wails. To his right, his portion of this assault wasted no effort coming at him en masse, barely a few feet of sunlight between them all. Seizing the chance, the masked dragon's maw and shoulder guards funneled charged particles in the air and radiated with a bluish-purple hue as a trio of beams lanced through the air between the clashing parties. Those in the front barely dodged the assault while the unfortunate souls behind them were blown back either into each other or into smoldering heaps. Careful so as to not exhaust his powers with the herd thinned, Xenos caught one of the beasts by the throat with his foot and crushed its windpipe before quickly using it as a meat shield for a trio of snappy Shadows; this didn't last long as bolts of lightning tore through their bodies, his brother returning the favor for Xenos' Particle Shield.

"I had them under control, Fulgoris!" snapped the masked dragon, his horn and mask blades glowing brightly as he blew apart a Shadow attempting to spiral out of the way.

"Yeah, but I have them underwater...you're welcome." Sneered his crackling brother as the Overseer of Lightning plunged his hand through a Shadow's chest and grasped its heart. The electricity dancing around him quickly channeled to his hand, lighting up the artificial monster like a gull in a storm until its heart couldn't handle the current any longer and exploded, leaving a gaping cavity in its back and chest,

"Don't mind me, just setting the sky on fire with your leftovers!" quipped their fiery brother. Shadows were all over him like flies to a dropping...a big, explosive dropping.

Xenos grinned to his brother, "Ready to give the hothead some backup?"

Fulgoris' maw and claws jolted with crackling anticipation as he snarled, "With pleasure!"

And with that, the two Overseers sped into the fray of battle once more.

Down below, Cielot , Parthalus, and company took shelter amidst the rocky formations of the isle, watching in awe at the dogfight going on above while avoiding being covered in raining gore.

"Egad...it would've taken a battalion at least a few days to even get close to this kind of damage with even our strongest weapons," an envious Rasidios gawked, his hard-light rifle hanging limply. Cielot, on the other hand, was awestruck in the spectacle. These "Draconis Spiritus Elementi" were unlike anything he had seen before; most animals tend to fight chaotically and without any sort of strategic thought in place, while these three telegraphed and calculated every move, even using each other to their personal advantage and giving covering fire. Their unique powers spoke for themselves, the Shadows' smoldering chunks serving as proxies. It was no wonder these beasts were considered to divine to the natives!

But then a though occurred to him: the Shobijin spoke of a Shadow of Evil...shadow. The word echoed in his head; was it possible that he and Parthalus' bioengineered weapons of Operation: Shadow-Storm currently fighting above them were this mythical demon? They were never intended to be a new species to roam across Atlantis, merely an effective albeit gruesome weapon and form of pollution control. Even so, how would this race of pint-sized, moth-riding humans know about such a thing so far in advance of it even being done? And this "Gamera, Guardian of the Universe"... the nomenclature couldn't be pure coincidence, especially given Project Guardian's existence. Were they toying with his head, or was everything that's happened in the last few years a part of a much larger scheme?

As if in response, a Shadow dropped from the fray right into a neighboring hill, charred by one of Ignus' fiery blasts. Shaking its arrow-shaped head, the ugly beast caught their scent and stared seemingly into their souls. With a flap of its bat-like wings it soared towards Cielot and company, weathering the hail from Rasidios' rifle.

"We've got to go... We've got to go NOW!" bellowed a frantic Rasidios, refusing to cease fire as they ran across the islet, now slippery with gore galore. The Shadow, however, was much faster; its rancid breath befouling their nostrils within seconds. Cielot turned his head ever so slightly, seeing the cavern of teeth closing in on Firia. With a quick stop he yanked her down, the jaws of Death itself missing by inches; he literally saw his terrified visage in the beast's drool! But luck is a cruel woman, as the winged horror turned about their way, its jaws licked in anticipation. Try as they could, Parthalus, Rasidios, and Orzaeus couldn't distract it.

"Of all the ways I'd imagined going out, this was at the top of my 'Least Wanted" list" groaned Firia, covering her face as debris fell from the rocky overhang above them. "If we survive this, we need to make sure that they don't!"

"How do you think I feel? I made the damn things!" cracked Cielot, bringing her closer as they prepared for the worst. Amidst the explosions, shrieks, and roars, he hoped that she could hear him say "If this it, then I hope I see you on the other side, my love... goodbye Firia." The smell of rotting flesh, the globs of saliva raining down on them, the gluttony in its red eyes sitting in scaly sockets only feet away from them... they closed their eyes, embracing the pain to come...

But nothing happened. Despite the silence, Cielot opened his eyes and could see that they were very much alive. However, he could also see that they were very much staring down its throat, only a few slivers of daylight were visible. Suddenly the light blinded them and, when Firia gasped in relief, Cielot could finally see why; a pair of hands, one bluish-grey and the other reddish-brown, clasped it by the sides of its head and threw the humans' would-be-killer into their brother. Xenos stabbed his hand through its back, snapping its spine before throwing it to Fulgoris. The Dragon of Lightning swiped it away with his tail, his bolt-shaped tail blades disemboweling it. Ignus reached over and grabbed it by the jaws, pried them open, and shot a beam of fiery energy down its throat. The Gyaos' eyes and midsection soon bulged and erupted with the attack, the beasts stench now made exponentially worse as its smoldering corpse was flung out to sea.

As Cielot and Firia joined the others, the three towering protectors roared in triumph. The Atlanteans surveyed the landscape; damn near everything was coated in gore, corpses floated on the sea or lay in shreds on the islet. As they were taking the sight all in, it was Orzaeus who finally broke the awestruck silence.

"If this isn't a sign that we now stand a chance to save our home, I don't know what is! I know you all saw what I saw, or in your guys' case, fought," gesturing to the monstrous triplets above him as they bent down to listen, and to the veteran Rasidios, "than the skreeonking Shadow has no idea what's-"

"No, this thing...it's not the Shadow anymore. There's only one name fitting for them now," Cielot interrupted, every head and pair of eyes swiftly turning his way. Now, even more than earlier, he could feel the words of the Shobijin reverberating through his skull. He looked off into the ocean, the eyeless head of the beast that tried to devour him seemingly staring at him intently as if to goad "Say my name."

"Gyaos, the Shadow of Evil."

As quickly as the chaos erupted, all was silent three synchronous flaps later as the survivors flew homebound into the distance. But back on the bloodstained islet, all was everything but still...Something stirred. Crippled but not dead, the ringleader of it all raised its battered head, its teeth bared as it hissed furiously.

"You're goddamned right."


Author's Note: How fitting is it to release the mega-monster showdown on Halloween? Unfortunately it's also here where I left off before writer's block hit me with this story HARD. I do plan on coming back to this, but my writing focus has been all on RWBY: A Beacon of Hope. Like I said, I do plan on coming back to this; I have the end of the story and it's sequel mapped out, it's just finding the time to crank it out that's been the problem.

As always, fave, follow, and leave a review! This is SpanishBulldog63 signing out and saying Happy Reading!